Alpha Force: Revenge
by be-nice-to-nerds
Summary: An evil drug lord wants to get revenge on Alpha Force so he hires the Assasin from Black Gold to help him. Various Adventures ensue as Alpha force are chased across diferent terrains, trying to outsmart an evill genius.Rated T to be safe.
1. Plotting

**This is my first fanfic, so reviews would be greatly appreciated.**

**Basically what happens is that the mastermind behind the drug smuggling in**_** Rat-catcher**_** and **_**Untouchable **_**hires the assassin from **_**Black gold **_**and tries to kill Alpha Force. Adventures ensue and Alpha Force must use all their skills to survive. This is their toughest challenge yet…**

**Sorry if that sounds too much like the blurb from **_**Hostage**_

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I am not Chris Ryan and If I was I wouldn't change anything, therefore I do not own Alpha Force :'( (This stands for all the other chapters too.)**

**Also, I decided to add a random Alpha Force Fact at the beginning of each chapter.**** Thanks to **

**Wikepedia which is where I got some of my facts from.**

**Random Alpha Force fact 1**_**: Alex is the**__**only member of Alpha Force to wear a gag.**_

Chapter 1: plotting

The room was dark and gloomy. It was typical of his customers, thought the assassin only known as "John", to have the stereotypical evil villain type house. The servant that was gloomier if possible than the décor appeared at the door. "The master would like to see you", he said with a certain air of doom.

Mr Balteg was waiting inside the next room. This one was just as unpleasant as the previous one.

"Glad to see you could make it", said John's host and customer from across the table. "Please take a seat." John reluctantly sat down. "And now… to business"

"What do you want me to do?" asked John warily. Experience had taught him that customers who started off like that had an unpleasant job for him.

"Oh nothing much…" said Roger Balteg. "Just a few pesky kids who need to be taken care of."

John frowned. "Why do you need me then? After all, they're just a few kids."

"Not just kids my friend…. These kids are experts. Do you remember Curacao?"

How could he forget it? He had been hired to do a job for a civil servant – Simon Ter-Harr, he thought it was. It was nice and simple. Then some environmentalists that didn't look old enough to be out of school had ruined the whole thing. Luckily John had thought ahead and disappeared before anyone could catch him.

"Yeah…" he replied cautiously.

"Well they've ruined my drug smuggling operations one time too many. This is what they look like." The drug lord handed over five photos of five teenagers who looked about sixteen/seventeen years old – three boys and two girls.

One of the boys was blond, with grey/blue eyes and gangly arms and legs. He wore a knife on his belt. Another had pale skin, spiky brown hair and green eyes. This one was clutching a palmtop computer protectively. The last boy looked South American, with brown wavy hair and brown eyes. One of the girls was small and Chinese, while the other was a tall black American. While both the girls looked familiar, none of them looked particularly harmful.

"Are you sure? They don't look up to much."

"I never make mistakes", snapped Balteg "I want you to track them down and kill them."

**Sorry if that was a bit short but it's a sort of prologue. The other chapters will be longer I promi****se. **


	2. Emails

**Random Alpha Force fact 2: **_**Alex's eyes are described as grey up until about the middle of the series and then they are called blue.**_

Chapter 2: Emails

Hex lounged on his bed, typing furiously at his palmtop. He was hacking into one hell of a secure site.

Weird, he thought. He could have sworn that it wasn't that secure last time he tried. His face furrowed in concentration. One more firewall to get past and he was in.

Suddenly there was a knock on his bedroom door, startling him. "Come in", he called in annoyance. The door creaked open, putting a shaft of light on his palmtop and reflecting it into his eyes.

Grumbling under his breath, Hex sat up. His little brother Ben was standing by the door with his battered old skateboard in one hand and a rucksack full of books in the other.

"I'm going to the library", Ben told his older brother. "Do you want to come?"

Hex shook his head. He had no idea why his brother liked reading so much. Books weren't nearly as interesting as computers.

"Suit yourself" shrugged Ben, closing the door again. "I'm going anyway."

Despite himself, Hex went to the window and pulled the curtain open to watch his brother tick-tacking down the street from their third- floor flat. He loved his brother more than nearly anyone in the world, even though he was careful not to show it. He cared for him all the more after Ben had been on the verge of death.

Ben had severe asthma and had had a partially collapsed lung. When he had contracted pneumonia when he was nine and a bit years old – just six months before Hex had gone on his voyage on the _Phoenix,_ everyone thought he was a goner. But due to a miraculous bit of surgery, Hex's only sibling was still alive.

Now the bookworm could basically be a normal kid again.

Hex was about to continue hacking when the palmtop beeped. He had mail. The hacker wondered who had sent it to him. Maybe it was Krazykid135 or ScaryHarry.

The person it was from was not who he had expected:

**_From:_ **Alex. H.E. Housing problems 

**Message: **

Hi Hex,

Yesterday I came back from a camping trip and discovered that some idiot had partly burnt down our house. It's not fit to live in anymore. My parents and little sister are staying at my big sisters place but there's no room for me. Also some other idiot blew up our school on teacher only day, and my parents want me to finish school this year. So can I please come and stay with you? My mum told me to say that I can enroll myself at a school and stuff; I just need somewhere to live. When our house is back to normal I can come back up here, but that won't be till the summer holidays. I'm desperate.

Thanks.

Your good friend,

Alex.

p.s. Can you please email me back asap.

* * *

Hex wasn't the happiest man in the world about the email – would you like having your school life collide with you're holiday life? But he knew he should help Alex, after all, Alex was one of his best friends. Anyway, at least having Alex over wasn't as bad as having Li or Amber. He liked Amber – well, maybe a bit more than liked her – and Li was also among his best – and only - friends. But everyone would think he had gone soft. Sighing inwardly, he went to find his mother.**

* * *

**

**From: **H.E. Alex. RE: URGENT: Housing problems 

**Message:**

Hi Alex,

Yeah you can come. My mum says you can come down whenever, just tell me first.

Cool.

See ya

Hex

**From: **Alex. H.E. 

**Subject:** Time

**Message:**

Hex, is it ok if I come now?

**From: **H.E. Alex. 

**Subject:** RE: Time

**Message:**

NOW???????

Yes, of course. I'll forward this to the others.

**From: **Alex. H.E. 

**Subject:** RE: Time

I'm on my way.

Good thinking.

**From: **H.E. Alex. 

**Subject: **RE: Time 

**Message:**

Cool

See you at the train station.

Hex quickly typed in his last message and flipped the palmtop closed. It wouldn't actually be that bad to have Alex come to stay.

* * *

Alex had only seen Kings-Cross station a few times, and the sight never ceased to amaze him. For that matter, neither did London. It was huge. Born and brought up in a village in Northumbria, Alex was always made slightly claustrophobic by cities. He wondered how Hex, who _was _claustrophobic, coped.

To find his friend in crowd that big would be no easy matter, mused Alpha Force's survival expert, would be no easy matter. Luckily he was saved the Herculean task by the arrival of Hex. With him was an average sized lady with brown hair and eyes that were almost identical to his friend's eyes. A youth of about thirteen clutching a battered skateboard and a backpack almost splitting open with the weight of the books that it carried completed the party. He was almost a mirror image of Hex if you went back in time until about half a year before Alpha Force had been born. Oh yes, and if you took away the spikes in Hex's hair.

Alex guessed that they must be Hex's mother and brother. He nearly asked where the father was before remembering that his friend's parents had divorced a few years back.

His suspicions were confirmed when Hex said: "Alex, this is my kid brother Ben – short for Benjamin. My parents had a thing about names."

Alex grinned, remembering that Hex's birth name was Melvin.

"They're nowhere near as bad as my mum", he said. "We're all Alex's in my family. My big sister is Alexia, I'm Alexander and my little sister is Alexandra. If I get another sibling, if it's a girl it will be Alexandria and if it's a boy Alexis. Crazy eh?

"And this is my mum", continued Hex, smiling despite himself. "Mum, Ben, this is Alex."

And in that abrupt manner the introductions were over.

"Alex, you'll be sharing with Hex", said Hex's mother when they were in the car, giving her elder son a pointed look.

"Well, it was either that or share with Ben", protested Hex. "And he snores worse than Paulo." Again the two friends shared a smile. Alex could hardly believe that anyone could snore louder than his big Argentinean friend.

The car skidded to a halt outside a block of flats.

"Come on", said Hex. "Let's get you settled in".

* * *

Alex had been in London for five days now. He was going to enroll at Hex's school tomorrow.

He was sitting trying to figure out if anti-social behavior ran in families when Hex's palmtop let out a familiar beep.

Hex read the message and frowned. Alex looked at him questioningly. Wordlessly, his friend handed over the palmtop.

**From:** Paulo. H.E. Alex. My parent's next workplace 

**Message:**

Hi guys

Just wanted to let you know where my parents are working next.

Ironically, their working at some zoo in London so I guess I'll be seeing Alex and Hex at school- I'm going to make sure to enroll in the same one.

Three of us in the same city!

Isn't that a record during the school term?

See you

Li

**Did you get my pun? LiPing leaping. Also I made up the last names where I didn't know them. Alex uses his in Black gold****. And I called Hex's brother Ben for 3 reasons. 1 it was the first name in my head, 2 I like it and 3 he was called that in spinkle22's fanfic and I didn't want to start having a hundred different names for the same person. **


	3. Bullies

**Random Alpha Force fact 3: **_**In the thing before the book starts when they describe the members, Hex got "Rarely without his Beloved palmtop" added to his round about **_**Black Gold**

Chapter 3: Bullies

Alex walked down the street with Hex, school-bag on back.

He still couldn't believe the sheer size of the buildings, how close together they were. London wasn't anything like Northumberland. He also couldn't believe that three Alpha Force members were in the same city in the school term, let alone same school. Alex remembered when he had gone to enroll.

_Start flashback _

"Ahhh… Alex is it?" asked the principal. "Alex Craig?"

Alex nodded.

"We got your form but of course, you are enrolling in the middle of the year."

_Why on earth__ is that important? _

"We need to do more paper work than usual. I hate bureaucrats" complained the principal, as if he had read Alex's mind. "Also I need to ask if you have any people you know at this school, so we can put you together. I know it must be hard to start in a whole new city."

"I know Hex", stated Alex. "And if a girl called Li has enrolled here then I know her too. She told me she was coming to London."

"Hex is a bad influence, but I'll be nice and put you with him anyway. Li… Yes! A Miss Li Ping has enrolled here too. I remember her asking about a certain Alex… And Hex. I didn't know that the boy had become so popular."

Alex got up. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Oh no, not yet. See me first thing Monday morning"

_End Flashback_

Alex snapped out of his daydream when Hex darted into a nearby alley, pulling the Northumbrian with him.

"What the…"

"Shush, they'll hear us!" hissed Hex urgently.

Too late. Suddenly three boys filled the entrance, leaving no escape route. They were all big thugs, who looked as if they could crack a brick in their bare hands.

Two of them were identical, with black hair and dark brown eyes. The other one was smaller, with reddish-blond hair and cold grey-green eyes. This one seemed to be the ringleader.

"So… if it isn't the Geek-boy…" The tone he spoke in was as cold as his eyes.

Hex appeared to stay calm, but Alex, who knew him well, noticed that he was struggling to control his temper. "If it isn't the moron and his tame puppy dogs".

The twin on the left spoke up. "We are nobody's _Puppy dogs_!" He spoke the word as though it was the worst insult imaginable. "More like pit-bulls", added his brother.

The leader took a step towards Hex, causing the hacker to step back. Then in one smooth movement he picked him up, took out his palmtop and dropped him in a heap on the ground.

"Hmm… Wonder what geeky-kid has on here. Here's an interesting file… Dear Amber, I just wanted to say-"

"- give it back!" yelled Hex.

The boy with reddish blond hair waved the palmtop tantalizingly In front of his face, just out of reach.

Alex decided that now was the time to intervene, even though he hated the thought of using his knife as a weapon, not a tool. He stepped forward, reached for his knife – and was held back by one of the twins. They must have just noticed he was there.

Suddenly there was a crash and the other twin was on the ground, a small Anglo Chinese girl stepping over the body.

"Li!" croaked Alex in relief, "thank goodness you're here"

"Ha!" snorted the main bully. He didn't sound so sure of himself though- they could all see the unconscious figure slumped in a doorway.

Before he could do anything else, Li jumped up with a flying kick that knocked both the Palmtop and the boy to the ground in opposite directions. Hex shakily picked himself up and fetched it, while Alex, no longer outnumbered , twisted round in a judo throw and flipped the last bully.

Then, dusting themselves off, the three continued on their way to school.

* * *

"Li you're a life saver", said Hex. "I thought I was dead meat"

Li smirked "You're welcome. Anyway, you just didn't want anyone to know about your undying love for Amber."

"What!?" yelped Hex, turning red.

"It's obvious" grinned Alex. "You think we haven't noticed? I know you've got the highest IQ out of all of us, but we're not idiots you know. Try asking her some time."

The hacker was speechless for the first and only time in his life.

"By the way", asked Li, "how did you get into that mess in the first place?"

Hex seemed to regain his voice. "Don't try to change the subject", he said, "not when I was about to start annoying you about Paulo."

Li covered her face. "I do not like Paulo!" she protested, but when she lifted her head up she was blushing.

Hex felt like paying her back for unveiling his thoughts for Amber, so sunk his teeth right into it.

Alex, who was normally quiet, and anyway didn't get everyone else's obsessions with the other sex stayed silent, except to add a few more "its obvious"'s at either persons expense.

They bickered happily like that until they reached the school.

Alex and Li entered the headmaster's office together, and Hex waited outside, fiddling with his palmtop.

Just typing on it made him feel better, made him forget the embarrassment of the way to school.

Hex knew he should have deleted that letter when he had had the chance.

He'd be the laughing stock of the school by lunchtime. Everyone would know how he had been saved by a girl, and that he was in love with some other girl called Amber. Then they'd say that he was cheating on her with Li, despite the fact that they didn't know Amber and Li wasn't his girlfriend.

Hex grinned. Actually she probably was. Li was a girl and she was his friend, so she was his girlfriend. For that matter, Alex and Paulo were his boyfriends. But try telling that to anyone older than ten and they'd look at you like you were crazy.

"Hey Hex!" someone called." I heard you were rescued by a girl."

He looked up and saw the face of his one and only school friend, Max.

"Well what do you know, it's the attack of the fitness freaks", grinned Hex. Max could get even more hyper than Li. He had ADHD and therefore needed 23.99 hours of exercise in a day. Ok, maybe that was pushing it a bit but he certainly needed one hell of a lot of exercise. Unfortunately he hated extreme sports so he had to find another way of using up loads of energy. Therefore Max spent all his free time at the gym, and that was where Hex had met him.

The two friends had just started talking when Alex and Li came out.

"Hex, the principal needs to see you, and Max too if you can find him", said Alex. He obviously didn't know who Max was.

Max stood up at attention. "That's me!" He then cart wheeled into the office.

Sighing, Hex got up and followed Max into the office.

Li wondered what the head master wanted with Hex and Max. Knowing Hex, probably to tell him off for bringing his palmtop to school. But what would he want with Max, who probably wasn't able to sit still for two seconds.

Alex apparently had the same thought on his mind. The quiet Northumbrian spoke up. "Why on earth did he want Hex and Max?" Then his face broke up into a smile. "That's the first time I've seen someone more hyperactive than you."

Li had to agree with him.

She mused about other things too. She wondered where Amber was, and what Paulo was doing now. She thought about her little brother Tom and wondered how he always managed to fake sick. She had just recounted Alpha forces adventure in Australia when the door creaked open.

"Come on", said Alex. "I think that we have to go".

* * *

Now there where three of them in the same city. They would be easy to catch, to pick off one by one or all at once. John would be well paid tonight. 


	4. Arson

**Random Alpha Force fact 4: **_**In **_**Untouchable **_**all of Alpha Force gets seriously injured in some way except Alex. E.g. Hex shot, trapped inside the container full of gas then drugged, Paulo shot in the arm, Amber nearly drowned under Hex's drugged body, Li nearly gassed to death… **_

Chapter 4: Arson

It was a few weeks later. John had still not had a good opportunity to kill the three teenagers. But now something had come up. He had overheard the girl – Li he thought she was – suggesting that they meet up in the weekend. These kids wouldn't live to see another day.

* * *

The café was crowded. It was a typical London winter – fog and snow – and it seemed as though the entire population was in that one building. Alex wondered yet again how Hex stood it here. The Londoner was bent over his palmtop as usual, sitting at the last free table.

"I'll order", offered Li. "What do you want?"

Alex and Max flipped through the menu.

"Ummm…soup of the day", Max said.

Alex nodded in agreement. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to this weather, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

Without looking up, Hex seconded that.

"So four soups of the day, sirs?" asked Li, trying and failing to imitate a posh waiter.

Alex and Max nodded while Hex grunted, not wanting to be disturbed.

Soon Li returned, balancing a tray on which lay four buns and four bowls of chicken and mushroom soup one handed.

"Please tuck in sirs", she continued with her extremely bad imitation.

Without further ado, three of the four started eating hungrily. Hex carefully stowed away his palmtop in its protective case and then started eating ravenously too.

Alex was about halfway through the delicious soup when his sharp nose smelt a familiar smell over the odor of Chicken and Mushroom soup: burning.

"Hex! Do you-"

Hex nodded. "I smell it too. Get out! Fire!" he suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs.

Customers were running everywhere, panicking. Li grabbed the one nearest to her and told them to keep calm, and to get outside.

Alex got Max and told him to get to the assembly point, and to bring as many other people out with him.

Hex disappeared into the burning kitchen. He had a long record of running into burning objects – in their adventure in the desert he had run into a burning truck.

The hacker pushed out the protesting staff through the back door that was becoming closer to being engulfed in flames every moment.

They had all escaped, but then the doors burst into flames in perfect synchronized timing.

Now he was trapped, with the wall of flame coming closer every second…

* * *

Li, Max and Alex were together in the emergency assembly point, amidst the crowd of people. They were looking for Hex.

Li was starting to get a little worried. Surely he'd be out by now? And where had he gone anyway? Surely not into the kitchen? Hex would never do such a thing.Unbidden, a picture rushed into her head. Hex running into the burning truck in the desert.

Alex obviously was thinking the same.

"Déjà vu", he said.

"What?" asked Max frustratedly. "What are you talking about?"

Alex explained about the truck and Hex running into it, but not when or where or why it had happened.

"I only hope he's managed to get out of there alive…"

* * *

Hex frantically looked about the kitchen, trying to find somewhere, something that could save him.

His photographic memory went into overdrive, scanning through the files to see if he had read anything about fires and surviving them.

He knew that some people made firebreaks to survive bush fires, but that was in the wild for goodness sake. Not in London!

And then he remembered something that he had read about an Australian family who had sheltered in a water tank while the bush fire roared around them. It was a slim chance but it was his only hope.

But where?

Then he spotted it. A huge sink with water in it in the middle of the room was a quarter full of dirty dishes.

Stopping only to wrap his palmtop in a Ziploc bag Hex dived into the dirty water. Not a moment too soon.

The heat was terrible, but at least he wasn't being fried to a crisp. These Australians were geniuses.

Finally the heat stopped. The fire must have burnt itself out.

Shakily, he got to his feet.

* * *

Alex, Max and Li had nearly given up. Li was sobbing gently and Alex and Max were also on the brink of crying for Hex, who had played the hero one time too many.

Suddenly Li felt a tap on the shoulder. She spun around.

There, wearing his all-too-familiar smug smile stood Hex.


	5. Reunion

**Thanks to spinkle22 ****, superTD and Elledreamer for reviewing.**

**If anyone has any Ideas for more facts could you please tell me.**

**Random Alpha Force fact 5: **_**Hex has gone through at least 3 palmtops: The one that Amber threw in the sea in Survival, the one that was buried in Desert Pursuit and the one that he used for all the books after.**_

Chapter 5: Reunion

"…And so, I managed to escape being fried to a crisp", continued Hex, telling his three friends about his lucky escape.

"Good thinking Hex", said Alex. "Although is it just me or is there something a little fishy about this whole fire business?"

Hex nodded. "Mmmmm. First your home, then your school, then a café where you and some friendsare having lunch in the weekend. Someone must really hate you."

What Hex was thinking, what was to horrifying to tell anyone was _Why just Alex, why target him? If it was because of his dad than they'd capture the rest of his family, all together in one house. If it isn't his dad then why? Maybe, maybe it's us. Alpha Force. We've made enemies, lots of them. What if one of them wanted to kill us off? The café was perfect, a golden opportunity for them. I think that we have found ourselves a mission. _

* * *

Amber reclined on her bed. Only a week to go and she'd be out of this hellhole. The girls at this place were spoilt brats, just like she used to be. They only wanted to know her because she was rich, or they felt sorry for her, what with her dead parents and Amber being a diabetic. Idiots, the lot of them.

Not like Alpha Force, especially Hex. She wondered why he or Alex hadn't emailed her yet, with their plans for the holidays. She hoped that they hadn't forgotten about her.

Maybe they would have written by now. She might as well check her email.

Amber powered up the computer, tapping the desk impatiently as she waited for it to load.

The email she found waiting was very ominous:

**From: **H.E. Paulo. Holidays 

**Message:**

Amber, Paulo,

We have made our plans for the holidays.

Come to London via LA – on the same plane, very important.

Afterwards we will go to Ireland.

Tell that to as many people as you can – we are going to Ireland.

But don't tell _ANYONE _that I told you to tell them, just tell them.

This time we are in too deep…

Hex.

* * *

The terminal of the LA airport was very busy. Paulo wondered how he would be able to find Amber among this crowd. However, his worries were soon amplified when he heard his name on the loudspeaker.

"Could Paulo S please come to the information desk?" said what sounded very much like Amber's smug tones . "Paulo S, report to the information desk a.s.a.p."

Paulo groaned. Amber could be such a sadist at times. He would get her back for this. Somehow…

He was at the information desk by now. And yes, there was Amber with her trademark sadistic grin splitting her face open.

"Ok, so what's the plan?", asked Amber.

"The plan, as you so kindly put it, is to go on the plane and meet Alex, Hex and Li" _Especially Li…_

"Actually," Amber said smugly, "we go on the plane, fly to London and _then _meet the others"

"Especially Hex, isn't that right?"

Paulo probably didn't realize it, but he had just echoed what she was thinking. Hurriedly, trying to keep her face impassive (Hex was way better at doing this sort of thing) Amber retorted.

"As if! But I bet that _you're _looking forward to seeing your sweetheart Li again."

Why did the members of Alpha Force need to know each other so well, wondered Paulo. Everyone except for Hex and Amber knew about Hex and Amber so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Amber had guessed of his feelings for Li. Had anyone else guessed? Probably, but he didn't want to admit it to Amber by asking her.

Luckily he was spared of having to answer by the intercom.

It wasn't their flight, of course. Amber and Paulo hadn't even gone through the overly paranoid security in the US yet. But it reminded Amber that their flight was in three hours and it would take two of those to just go through security.

Hex had mentioned in another email that he was going to arrange to have the security tightened. He seemed to think that something was going to happen. What could happen Amber didn't know, but the hacker sounded sure. Well, as certain as you could sound in an email, that is.

They had reached the beginning of the queue. The two members of Alpha Force from America (The continent, not the country) prepared themselves for one hell of a long wait.

* * *

John put the final touches on the bomb and its carrying case. No one should be able to tell what it was now.

The person he was paying to take the bomb onto the plane had no idea what it was. He thought that they were drugs he was smuggling into England. The unwitting idiot didn't know that he would be dead by tomorrow.

Soon, two of the children would be dead. Soon, John and his master would have their revenge…

* * *

Amber and Paulo had nearly reached the front pf the line for the security checks when there was a cry and they saw a man getting dragged away by the guards, a bag lying discarded on the ground.

He headed for Paulo and Amber, who automatically ducked as a fist went flying through the air.

Amber grabbed the mans legs from under him and knocked him to the floor. Paulo, seeing what she was doing, sat on him, cutting off his air supply if he moved a millimeter.

The guards came and picked the strange man up, leaving his bag back where it was.

Paulo, who had the better eyesight of the two, recognized the bag for what it was.

He swore softly in Spanish.

"What is it?" asked Amber curiously.

"I'll tell you what it is", said the Argentinean. "It's a bomb."

"Well someone must really hate us", said Amber, wondering why she had said it.

* * *

Alex, Li and Hex were waiting in the airport impatiently.

Hex in particular was getting increasingly frantic.

What if the security wasn't tight enough? What if it wasn't a bomb, if it was something else? What if the assassin had found another way to kill them?

He pictured Amber and Paulo on a plane, and then the plane blowing up. Hex felt envious of Alex, who wasn't affected by these stupid Hormones.

Hex's black mood was spreading, despite Li not knowing exactly what Hex thought could happen. She resolved to tell Paulo at the nearest possible chance.

Alex too was worried, just by looking at his companions faces. Not for the first or last time, he was glad he didn't like any of the girls. Knowing Hex, his friend was probably envious of him.

He sometimes thought that Alpha Force knew each other too well. Hex, Li, Paulo and Amber probably didn't want a boy who didn't understand these things poking through there heads.

So like the others, Alex breathed a silent sigh of relief when they spotted Amber and Paulo coming out of customs.

Hex immediately lost his worried expression before Amber could see it and became all business like.

"Come on", he said. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us.

**Please review! Also the amount of romance in there is as bad as its going to get because I'm not exactly the biggest fan in the world of it. I'll try to update soon.**


	6. Plans

**Random A****lpha Force fact 6: **_**In Survival, we learn that "Anglo-Chinese Li was born and brought up in London"**_

Chapter 6: Plans

The five members of Alpha Force sat around a table in a hotel room, together at last. Hex had his Palmtop out but for once wasn't using it, instead opting to explain to the other four about his hunch.

"So… you say that we are targets?" asked Paulo in disbelief.

"Yeah", said Hex. "Let me explain. We've made lots of enemies – of course we have. Any of them might want to finish us off. And the fires in Northumberland, their not coincidence. Alex was just lucky that he – or anyone else – wasn't at his school the night it blew up. And good thing that he was camping when his house caught fire. But wait, that's not all. I nearly got killed when someone placed a Molotov cocktail in that café, and it was a good thing I got the people at the airport to tighten security or else the bomb wouldn't have been found and Amber and Paulo would be dead."

"That didn't stop him", pointed out Amber. "Lucky Li taught us some martial arts or we would still be dead."

"What did you do?" asked Li with interest.

"Oh nothing much", the American said airily. "Just swept his feet away and sat on him."

Hex cleared his throat. "Did anything suspicious happen that I am unaware of?"

There was a long silence.

Finally Paulo spoke up. "Well, there was the time the cows stampeded, but it might not have anything to do with that…"

"Tell us more."

No one was sure who had said that, but they knew it was on of the five.

"Well, it all began on a hot day about a week ago…

_start flash back _

Paulo was surrounded by cows. It was an occupational hazard of living on a ranch, but he didn't mind. Unlike Hex, he wasn't animal paranoid.

He chuckled, imagining the look on his friends face if Hex had heard that.

Actually, his friend wasn't _that _animal paranoid, but still.

One of the cows nudged his chest with her head, bringing him back to reality. It was side affect of the school holidays that he started daydreaming about seeing his friends again.

No way José was he going to tell them that though – he'd be the laughing stock of the group.

Damn it! Daydreaming again.

He really needed to get this job done.

Suddenly he heard a noise from behind him. Not unusual on a farm, but this noise was different. A bang, sort of like an explosion – or a gunshot. Now why would anyone be shooting on a ranch?

He shook himself mentally. Daydreaming three times in three minutes – he must really want to see the others again. He shook himself harder, trying to get rid of that little voice in his head that told him that it was Li he really wanted to see.

Luckily – or unluckily – he was spared the mental argument. Without further warning, he was knocked over by a herd of very angry cows with an even angrier bull.

Paulo wondered how he had managed to live on a ranch for so long – nearly seventeen years – and still had never been in a stampede up till now.

He also wondered why he had to start now, and then caught himself daydreaming – again.

A hoof hit him in the stomach and he curled up, trying to make himself as small as possible. Not the easiest thing for the six foot Argentinean to manage, but he tried. And as any primary school teacher will tell you, that's the important part.

A Few more cow feet hit him in various places of his body, some that are not very nice to talk about.

Luckily, one hit him in the head and the world went black…

_End flashback _

Hex grimaced. Being hit in various painful places by a herd of crazed cows wasn't exactly his idea of a good time.

" Yeah, it sounds suspicious"

"Geek – boy, always the paranoid."

Hex glared at Amber before continuing.

"What was that noise? Maybe it was something designed to scare the cattle into stampeding, so that you would be killed. I think that this guy is worse than anyone we have ever faced before."

A stunned silence greeted Hex's rant. The Londoner usually kept silent, preferring to let the others talk, then butting in with a brilliant solution. But this time he was as stumped as they were.

Or maybe not. Amber opened her mouth – probably to make some sarcastic remark – when Hex spoke again.

"I bet your wondering, why Ireland? What so special about it, and why did I tell you to tell everyone where we are going? Well, as some of you have probably already guessed, we are not going to Ireland."

He paused to let the meaning sink in before continuing.

"We are going to Northumberland."

**Sorry its so short, But it felt like a good place to end. I'm not updating unless I get reviews, so please don't be lazy. Thanks elledreamer for being the onlyone to bother updating. So press that button, you know you want to… **


	7. Covert Survillience

**Thank you to**** all the people who reviewed… You know who you are. The rest of you can you please review. The more reviews I get the faster I update… (Or at least try to…)**

**Random Alpha Force fact 7: I**_**n Red Center, Chris Ryan says that the police cars went to the opposite side of the road and then "Swerved back into the right side." But in Australia, they drive on the left, not the right!**_

Chapter 7: Covert Survillience

Three Quad bikes hurtled along the moor. Alex, in the lead and on his own was towing a trailer loaded with their camping gear behind him.

To his left and behind, Hex was driving with Amber sitting behind him looking slightly unhappy. Alex wasn't really surprised; everyone knew how she hated engines.

Opposite Amber and Hex, on the right side, were Paulo and Li. Much to the annoyance of Li, Paulo had insisted on driving. He was the better driver, and as he said; "We don't want you overturning the vehicle, like you nearly did in the desert."

After a few hours of driving, Alex signaled for a stop. They were in a sheltered spot; a few trees formed a good place to hide from the elements.

"But that's not the best thing", grinned Alex. "Look."

He pushed away a branch from one of the trees on the outskirts of the cluster. A little spring was bubbling there merrily.

"I found it last time I was camping, but I went somewhere else. When you told us we needed to find somewhere to hide on the moors I immediately thought of this place. We even don't need to find water from some other place."

They had all been worrying about that – they didn't want anyone to know that they were there but they could only live three days without water. This spring was the solution to their problems.

Without further ado, they set up the tents, working together like well oiled parts of a machine.

Hex was adamant about security, so they put up a camouflage awning over each of the tents and the quad bikes as well.

For a short while, sitting by the campfire that they had decided was safe, Alpha Force were content.

* * *

"So why exactly are we doing this again?" groaned Hex for the hundredth time that day. He and Alex were lying on their stomachs, perched on a hill overlooking the village that was Alex's hometown.

They had arrived about half an hour earlier, with Paulo and Li. Paulo had taken one of the quads back and joined Amber back at base.

Li was waiting about a kilometer back with the remaining quad bike, acting as back up if needed.

Hex and Alex were the logical choices. Alex knew his way around the village and Hex knew exactly what they were looking for. Also if they got caught snooping around town they had a perfect alibi.

Today their mission was clear: Alex and Hex had to snoop around town, especially the burnt school and houses, to try to find information about their unknown assassin.

"Hex, its all clear. Let's do it."

Together, they snuck downhill into the village.

* * *

John was getting worried. He'd tried to kill these idiot kids at least four times now, without success. And he couldn't find them anywhere in Ireland so far.

He gritted his teeth. These kids were smarter than they looked. John wouldn't put it past them to be somewhere else, to not be in Ireland at all.

Hey, maybe that was right. Northumberland here I come.

These kids were smart, but he was smarter.

* * *

Alex's half-burned house yielded no clues to who their mysterious assassin was. After nearly an hour of close inspection, the two teenagers had to give up.

Their next destination was the vandalized school. If they didn't find anything there; then they would give up and return with backup later. What they would have to do wasn't exactly legal, though, and Alex was worried.

His dad was on leave from the SAS and if they were caught he would obviously figure out Alpha Force.

Also Alex would bet his knife, survival kit and Hex's palmtop that the assassin had contacts in the village.

Not something that he would do lightly. He would never part with his knife, not to mention the fact that Hex would skin him alive if he even touched his precious palmtop.

He would tell the others later, but for now they had a job to do.

The abandoned schoolyard was in much worse condition than Alex's house. All the buildings were burnt down to the ground. It looked genuine enough, but something wasn't right.

Hex had a really good eye for detail, both in facts and images. He had to – if he was programming, forgetting to put in a comma could mean disaster. When he thought something was wrong, he was usually right.

He knew that something was missing, something was out of place. The hacker just couldn't figure out what…

**Sorry that this is really short but I had huge writers block. I know what will happen in the ****next chapter so it should be on soon. Be prepared for lots of action!**


	8. Trial by Fire

**So here it is,**** the eighth chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Btw I don't know what Alex's dads name is so I made one up. If anyone has other knowledge please tell me ASAP.**

**Random Alpha Force fact 8:** _**Hex is Claustrophobic, so of course he is the one that always has to go into and generally get stuck in tight spaces. Chris Ryan must enjoy torturing the characters as much as we do!**_

Chapter 8: Trial by Fire

Something was wrong here, really really wrong,. All the facts didn't add up.

Hex needed to pin it down, to find the answer.

That knowledge was in the back of his head, humming like a really annoying fly had landed there and wouldn't go away, like an itch just out of reach.

Alex was searching the ruined buildings. He was looking for something, some evidence that could tell them who was after them and why.

Hex envied him. Normally he could shut down all of his mind except for the part he needed, but the nagging was to great.

An image of Amber flashed into his head and he swore under his breath. Stupid hormones.

He concentrated harder.

It was beginning to get dark. Hex gave a start; he hadn't noticed it was late.

The hacker turned to his friend to tell him that they had better get going. None of them wanted to go back to their camp in the dark. Even Alex, who had been exploring the moor since he could walk, was one hundred percent certain of the way back.

In the daylight the Northumbrian could find his way there easily, but in the dark? Hex doubted that he could.

"Alex, we'd better go now."

No reply.

"Alex?"

Hex lifted his head up. No one was there.

He felt something hard on his back. The barrel of a gun.

"Come quietly and you won't get hurt." The voice was harsh, with a hint of steel, and Hex knew the person wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

Slowly, putting his hands up to show he meant no harm, Hex turned around.

* * *

Alex watched from behind the bushes.

He had heard footsteps behind him, so he had hidden in the bush. He felt bad about leaving Hex, but he knew he had to get help.

He had a sudden urge to leap out, to strangle the men that held his friend and he wondered if this was how Hex had felt in Australia.

The men dragged his Londoner friend away from the school yard. Quickly Alex turned on his mobile and texted Li.

Then he put it on silent and followed the men who had taken Hex.

* * *

Hex was taken to an abandoned shed on the outskirts of town. Weird, he thought that you didn't find stuff like this in the country.

The men who had taken him tied him onto a stake on top of a pile of wood that looked suspiciously like a bonfire. He was like the figurine on the top of the bonfire at Guy Fawkes.

A man stepped out of the shadows.

"Let me ask you some questions."

His voice was cordial, but Hex knew that underneath the mask was a killer. Without waiting for an answer, the man continued.

"Where are the others?"

"What others?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Hex was silent.

"Very well. If you refuse to cooperate…"

The unspoken threat hung in the air.

Without another word, the man crossed over to the bonfire and lit it.

"That should loosen your tongue up a bit."

"I will never tell you!" yelled Hex in defiance. This was beginning to sound like the script of one of those horribly Clichéd movies.

"So be it." After saying this, the men got up and left the building, leaving Hex to die slowly and painfully

* * *

Alex watched from his hiding place under yet another bush. He was trying to keep control of his temper as he watched the men torturing Hex.

He texted Li with the co-ordinates of the shed and ran off.

* * *

Craig Craig was back home on leave from the SAS. Well not home, more like his eldest daughters place. While he was at work some vandal's had burnt half his house down so they had sent Alex to stay with a friend in London. He, his wife and their younger daughter Alexandra (Alex for short) were living with Alexia, their oldest child.

He heard a noise in the background so he went to investigate.

Nothing would prepare him for what he saw. Alex (the boy) climbing in through a window that he swore had been locked just a minute ago.

When he saw that his father was looking at him, Alex looked back up with an innocent expression on his face.

"Don't give me that look Alex! What are you up to?"

"Look dad, I can't explain now. Give me a fire extinguisher. Please."

His father wasn't convinced. "Why?"

"Dad, I'm in a bit of a rush. I promise I'll tell you as soon as this is over", promised Alex frantically. Every minute he wasted here Hex was coming closer too death.

Craig noticed the expression on his son's face. Reluctantly, he handed over a fire extinguisher.

Alex didn't even say thanks, he was so busy running.

As he sprinted away into the darkness, he hoped that he wasn't too late…


	9. Escape

Thanks to everyone who reviewed

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You have no idea how much I appreciate your comments.**** Actually you probably do, considering the fact that most of you write fanfics as well. Thanks anyway!**

**Random Alpha Force Fact 9****: I'm stuck for ideas, can you please tell me if you have any.**

Chapter 9: Escape

It was hot. Chokingly Hot. Hex wanted to get out of there, but he couldn't. Hex didn't want to burn to death.

The heat grew bigger, and so did the smoke. It was a challenge to breathe.

The Londoner felt the darkness creeping up on him. He pushed it back down. Hex wanted to stay awake for as long as possible.

The darkness surged up all at once. Giving up the struggle, Hex slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

The night was freezing cold, in stark contrast to the conditions inside Hex's shed.

Alex jogged through the heather as fast as he could. His friend's life was in danger, and he was frustrated with how long it was getting him to get there.

It was hard to run carrying the fire extinguisher. Alex had to lean back while running to compensate for its weight in his arms – he didn't particularly feel like ending up face down in the dirt.

He looked up from the ground and checked his surroundings. In the distance he could see the shed, smoke beginning to pour out of it by now. Alex prayed that he wasn't too late.

* * *

Inside the shed the pole that Hex had been tied to was invisible under the flames and smoke. Alex quickly opened the fire extinguisher and sprayed it onto the flames.

The effect was miraculous. The fire thinned immediately to about half its original size. Through the thinning smoke Alex could see Hex still tied to his pole, the hacker's head lolling sideways.

Alex fired the fire extinguisher again. Another pile of foam squirted out onto the fire. There were still some flames left, but most of them were gone.

He pressed the trigger one more time and swore. The extinguisher had run out of ammo.

Alex knew what he was about to do was stupid, but he did it anyway. Racing forward, the Northumbrian leapt into the fire.

* * *

Li was at her wits end. She had gotten Alex's text but the little shed on the outskirts of town had continued to evade her. The free-climber was about to give up when she saw smoke pouring out of, well, a ramshackle shed. Wondering why she hadn't seen it before, Li sprinted towards it.

Alex staggered through the smoke dragging an unconscious Hex along behind him. He had managed to get to the Londoner and cut through his bindings with some difficulty.

Now he was struggling to carry his friend.

"Need a hand?"

He almost jumped out of his skin.

"What do you think?" he snapped, irritated.

Li sighed and grabbed hold of Hex's legs. Together, they dragged him outside. Alex pulled out his phone and texted the others.

They put Hex down gently and settled down on the grass. It was going to be a long wait.

**Sorry for the very long wait, shortness of the chapter and extremely bad writing, but this was one of those chapters that you know what will happen but you just cant write it down somehow. **


	10. One way out

Chapter 10: One way out

When Hex came to, the first thing he saw were the blurry faces of his friends looking down at him.

He opened his mouth to ask a question but no sound came out.

"He's awake!" called Li, and Hex suddenly realized that her and Alex where the only ones there.

"Where… Where are Amber and Paulo?" he asked.

"Ambers uncle is coming over from America" explained Alex. "Amber and Paulo went to meet him at the airport."

Hex nodded in understanding then immediately wished he hadn't. His head started swimming and he slipped back into unconsciousness.

* * *

"I'm so glad you could come" said Amber, hugging her uncle tightly. Since Hex had nearly died, John Middleton had wanted to come and visit him in hospital.

"I shouldn't have needed to come" scolded her uncle.

"It wasn't our fault!" Amber defended "If…"

"It does not matter" cut in Paulo, before the fight could get any worse. "What has happened has happened, and there's nothing any of us can do about it."

Both the Middleton's looked slightly ashamed.

"Come on" Paulo continued, opening the door to their hired car. "Let's go see Hex."

* * *

Hex sat up in his hospital bed, typing furiously. He had finally cottoned on to a lead and was trying to follow it.

Suddenly, all four of his friends burst through the door, followed by Amber's uncle.

"Guys" he said, appearing not at all bothered by the fact that they had nearly tossed the door off its hinges in an attempt to get to him "I think we have a killer"

"Who?" asked Alex.

"This guy." Hex turned his palmtop around so that everyone could see the picture on the screen. "An assassin who prefers to be known only as 'John'"

"Hey!" yelped Li. "Isn't that the guy from Curacao?"

"It is" explained Hex. "I saw a glimpse of his face when they were trying to burn me alive. I recognized it, looked it up on the internet and voila!"

"And what exactly does that have to do with us getting killed?" asked Amber.

"I was getting to that. You see, I found a string of emails between him and his employer. They have details of every one of the attacks we had, including exactly when they would do that. And – get this, this is when the next attack is due."

Alpha Force looked. And as one, Alpha Force gulped.

"This is bad "said Li shakily. "Very, very bad."

Amber gave her a look. "Ya think?"

"Umm…" Paulo gulped. "Does anyone actually have a plan?"

Hex nodded.

"Oh how did I guess?" asked Amber sarcastically.

Hex ignored her. "I have a plan", he said. "It's crazy, but it might just work."

* * *

From a newspaper article:

_Last night at six PM an explosion shook __an unidentified hospital in Northumberland. Luckily, most of the patients managed to escape, except for five people. These bodies have not been identified but the sole heiress to Middleton software, Amber Middleton is believed to be among the dead. Also among the missing is local schoolboy Alex Craig. They were believed to have been visiting their friend Melvin "Hex" Brown following an accident with a bonfire. Their families refused to comment. The funerals will be held next week._

**This isn't over yet! Sorry that this chapter was really short but I couldn't fit what I have planned next without ruining it.**


	11. Afterlife

**Important note: If you missed the newspaper article at the bottom of the last chapter, go read it. Now. If you don't, this won't make any sense whatsover.**

Chapter eleven: Afterlife

_Dear Dad,_

_I'm sorry that it had to come to this. Maybe if we'd told you earlier, it wouldn't have._

_You see, the five of us – Amber, Li, Paulo, Hex and myself were a team of crime-fighters. We were Alpha Force, and we did what the authorities couldn't. _

_If you remember that time in South America, where you saved some 'street kids' from being the Rat-Catchers dog food? They were us. I'm sorry that we deceived you, but it was the only way we could continue doing it. Would you have really let us be Alpha Force if you knew the truth? I think not._

_All the same, I'm sorry._

_This letter is the last that you'll hear from me in a long time – maybe forever._

_Our exploits have attracted too muck attention. Hex has found out that there are at least two different people who want us dead. Maybe there's more._

_They have already launched several attacks on us. That fire in out house – it was no accident. Neither was the one at school, or in the shed._

_Sooner or later, they will target our families. We don't want to put any of you in danger. However, the only way they will stop targeting us is if we are dead._

_Mum, Dad, Alex and Alex, I'm sorry that it had to be this way. I love you all._

_What I am about to tell you must never leave your lips. In fact, can you please burn the next part of this letter._

_We're not really dead. We faked our own deaths so that they would stop hunting us, to keep you out of danger. We will lie low for a while, until they are convinced we are well and truly gone._

_I'm sorry._

_I'm sorry for lying to you, sorry that you thought me dead. Believe me, if there was any other way I would have taken it._

_I don't know when I will see you again._

_Maybe never._

_I hope not._

_But wherever you are, know this: Alpha Force will take their revenge._

_Your loving son, Alex._

**So, here it is – the end of the fic. (If you really want another chapter I could probably give you one, although it won't be nessesary) Love it? Hate it? I would love to hear your responses. ****I'll try to update my others ASAP, all though I won't start any new ones until I finish it.**

**BNTN**


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